Today I described a species – 2025 Taxonomy recognition day

Associação BIOPOLIS – CIBIO; Município de Lousada

Mata de Vilar – Municipio de Lousada (Portugal)

23 May 2025

This May, Associação BIOPOLIS – CIBIO organised the “Today I described a species – 2025 Taxonomy recognition day” citizen science event at Mata de Vilar – Municipio de Lousada (Portugal). A total of 52 high school students took part in the workshop. The students participated in a mixture of theoretical sessions, practical work, challenges and a game. They also gave a final presentation of their results.


Goals

  1. To create awareness on the importance of taxonomic research
  2. Understanding the key moments of species discovery and description
  3. Understanding DNA barcoding as a tool to distinguish species
  4. To create awareness on the diversity of all life forms
  5. To improve proximity and public perception of science and taxonomic work

Content

WHAT (CB – concepts)
Diversity and importance of life forms
Role of Taxonomy in science and in day by day life
Components of species description
DNA barcode as a tool for species distinction

HOW (CB – concepts, training)
Decoding DNA barcodes
Creating a new species
Describing the new organism: type specimen, type locality, diagnosis, designation (naming species)

ACT (CB – concepts, tools)
Is there space in science for citizens: Tools and Initiatives (iNaturalist/BioDiversity4All)

PLAY TIME (CB – concepts, available tools, creation of tools)
Challenge: create a new species in playdough

Game: DNA barcoding BINGO
Each team (two members) received two pieces of playdough and a form to create and describe a new species. They were challenged to create any form of life without taxonomic restrictions. Then they would have to fill a form (in Portuguese) with all steps of species description: name, taxonomy, type locality, diagnose characters and storing institution. During the activity the participants were invited to take a Head in hole Linnaeus picture.

In the end, each team did present the new species to all participants followed by an open questions and answers session.

Header: The “Today I described a species – 2025 Taxonomy recognition day” citizen science event at Mata de Vilar – Municipio de Lousada (Portugal). Image by: Municipio de Lousada